Lot of my 'friends' doing it, they even include women who seem to like (sic) pictures of suffering, fleeing men and women, children.

They are not moved by the images, stories of horror, in fact, there is an element of glee. If human sufferings--of women, kids don't move you, it shows level of radicalization in sections of society, which was known to be TOLERANT.

Even during Syrian refugee crisis, there was to an extent this attitude that was visible on internet. But after Rohingya exodus, it manifests itself more clearly.

Sunday, September 17, 2017

The daughter of an Indian father and a Malay mother, has become the President of Singapore.

Halimah Yacob, who is a a Malay Muslim minority and was the parliament speaker till recently, had quit the position last month.

On Thursday, she took over as the republic’s first woman president and the second Malay ever in the island republic to hold office as head of state.

Her father was an Indian Muslim. He was a watchman. She was just eight when her father died. Halimah, 63, was born in Singapore. Her mother was a Malay.

A lawyer, Halimah practiced in the Singapore bar. Her husband Abdullah Alhabshee is a Malay. They have five children. Halimah was associated with People's Action Party.

There has been opposition to Halimah's election from certain quarters and it was termed that this was not a voter's election. Also, her race and her father's Indian link, was made an issue.

The last Malay president was Yusof Ishak. He held the office from 1965 till 1970, when he died. Though a ceremonial post, it has immense significance attached to it.

The premier, Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong, said that in the Chinese-majority, multiracial city state of 5.6 million people, it was “important that minorities have a chance to be elected president, and that this happens regularly”.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Just like Hindus-Sikhs or Hindus-Muslims, who have lived together for centuries and have shared heritage, Muslims and Sikhs too have a shared history.

There are glorious examples of love, togetherness and sacrifice for the other.

In Punjab, all the three religious communities lived together and hence there was bound to be common culture.

Unfortunately, many people tend to create an impression that Sikhs and Muslims had a sort of fight, hate or enmity, but this is completely wrong.

A king or emperor's unjust acts or oppression, just because he happened to be a Muslim, doesn't mean that those acts were sanctioned by Islam. Similarly, a Sikh guru's fight against the oppressor doesn't mean that it was a fight against Islam, it was a fight against injustice, a fight for values.

A Muslim emperor was an emperor, a despot, not a role model for Muslims. In fact, on the ground, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, lived in amity for ages. However, there is propaganda that terms communities having enmity.

Just a few examples:1.The closest companion of Guru Nanak was Bhai Mardana, a Muslim.

2.Miyan Mir, a Muslim saint, had laid down the foundation of Shri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple)

3.The works of Muslims like Baba Farid and Sheikh Bhika, apart from Kabir, are part of Guru Granth Sahib, the holy text of Sikhs.4.Once, Sikh Guru Hargobind Sahib found that local Muslims in an area had no place to pray, he got a mosque built for them. It still exists.5.Many Muslims were part of the army of Guru Gobind Singh, when he was fighting Aurangzeb. Badruddin Shah alias Pir Buddhu was executed for supporting Guru Gobind Singh.

6.When there was order to kill the Guru's sons, the Nawab of Malerkotla opposed it and protested. As a result, Sikh guru blessed him. During partition, entire Punjab was in bloodshed but not a drop of blood fell on Malerkotla's land.

[Harmony exists all around us but is often ignored. Instead, stories of hate, discord and communalism get spread easily.

There are a million examples in our daily lives across India but they don't get promoted, hence, news of hate and discord gets heard more. Let's change it, now.

This is a small attempt to change it through Communal Harmony Project]

For reading similar reports on this blog, Click the link HERE and also find out more about Communal Harmony Project]

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had come to power, promising that it will work for the common man, all sections of society.

In its manifesto, the party had said that it would address issues of Muslim community too and would earnestly work to redress the grievances.

On educational front, AAP government has lately been quite active and seems to have done its bit--from construction of school buildings to reining in private schools that charge excessive fee.

But when it comes to the Urdu medium schools, AAP hasn't shown much interest. The Urdu medium schools are crumbling, grapple with lack of teachers, non-availability of the most basic facilities.

Besides, there are fears about attempts to merge Urdu schools--just another way to bring their number down, before closing them.

If AAP is serious about education, then it should pay equal attention to Urdu schools in Delhi, which is not a huge state. Things can be sorted out faster in national capital.

Firstly, there is need to improve infrastructure--construction and repair of the dilapidated school buildings, upgrading the existing schools and opening new ones.

The demands include appointment of Urdu teachers, ensuring that the posts are filled (not kept vacant or surrendered) and premises are freed from encroachments.

In many schools, teachers who are not proficient in Urdu, are posted. Besides, there are no steps to ensure that Urdu is taught as third language in English and Hindi medium schools where students opt for the language but lack of teacher or management's disinterest has led to the situation that Urdu is not taught even as third language.

AAP had made promises to Urdu speakers. Its manifesto was in Urdu too. Hope the party takes action and shows sensitivity, else, it would be felt that AAP also played the 'Urdu card' at election time.

A delegation of All India Milli Council too called on Arvind Kejrwal a few days back, urging him to take steps in this regard.

Urdu is an official language in Delhi government, however, the Urdu schools aren't given any priority. Link about delegation visit on TCN.

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